Now this is how you do a Best Of! Last month (October 2010) I reviewed a UFO Best of the decade compilation and suggested it could have been executed better. UFO’s current label could take a look at At Vance’s label and see how to do a better job putting these things together. As always reviewing a ‘Best Of’ is a bit of a public service announcement. Die-hards will automatically get it, new fans might check it out, the rest of us may get it, depending on how well it is done. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty darn good.

This double disc set is called DECADE which doesn’t really make sense because it has tracks from the late 90’s as well. Aside from that minor gripe, it is a really good value with a whopping 37 songs! Disc One is a collection of 16 songs from the studio albums. There is no real rhyme or reason to the sequencing or selection of the songs that I can see. Some albums are under-represented and some are over-represented but that’s OK. They are all good songs giving a good overview of the bands quality work. Read more about their studio work in our reviews section. http://www.metal-rules.com/review/search.php?

Disc Two is the interesting stuff. It’s packed with cover tunes, rare stuff, a live cut and so on. Again there is no structure or organization to the sequencing of the tracks. The band has done many covers over the years, probably a couple dozen by now, but DECADE is not all-inclusive, there are a few cover songs they have left off this collection. Only the song ‘Wannabe’ is unfamiliar to me, it doesn’t seem to appear on any of the bands albums in any form. Could it be the lone, elusive, unreleased song? The covers songs are cool, most of the classical ones already appear on the regular studio versions. The bands choice of pop tunes (instead of covering ‘metal’ songs) is quirky but fun. I could do without the song ‘Shout’ by Tears for Fears. The sucks and will always suck, no matter who tries to metalize it. “Let it all out. This is a song I can do without!”

At over 2.5 hours this massive collection will please almost all fans. Yes, it could have been more inclusive and could have had a few more unreleased cuts. I suppose I should say something about the music. At Vance is world class German Power Metal. That’s all you need to know. Enjoy!